give us some examples of how lincoln is so used. >> well, used and abused. i'm sure there are viewers out this who, when they think of lincoln they think of the, depending on their ages, raymond massey or henry fonda or hal holbrook or gregory peck or others who have played lincoln in the movies. >> furthermore, it's well known that the more a man speaks, the less he's understood. ( laughter ) >> lincoln has in fact been used almost from days of his assassination to sell products. we have lincoln logs. for a younger generation, "ted and bill's excellent adventure" includes lincoln. he is just one of those figures if you're selling a product that's synonymous with integrity, whether it's an automobile or insurance or a remedy for sleep deprivation. >> sreenivasan: honest abe. >> absolutely. honest abe. everyone wants lincoln on their side. almost everyone can devise a rationale to justify that. we go on debating who he is, what he really believed, and how it influences our politics and our culture to this day. >> sreenivasan: and that story is not over. >> th